Table of Contents

Department Awards

Upcoming Events

Focus of the Week - Community

Announcements

Presentations & Publications

Department Member Recognition

Frankly Speaking Podcast

Clinical Services Spotlight

Department Awards

Each year, the department recognizes individuals who have contributed to the department’s mission of service and teaching. One of the teaching awards will honor a faculty member for outstanding work in Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice. We are seeking your nominations for these recognitions. These awards are important for the faculty and call for thought and reflection on those who deserve recognition. A nomination should include the person’s name, the award you are nominating them for, and a brief paragraph describing why the individual is deserving. Written nominations will be shared with the leadership team in advance of the team’s October meeting. Nominees will be presented, discussed, and voted on by the Leadership Team. Awardees will be honored on November 15th from12:00 - 1:00pm at the Department's Annual Awards Ceremony (in lieu of Grand Rounds. The awards are: Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity Excellence, Education, Outstanding Community Clinician and the Chair Award.

Upcoming Events

FMCH Grand Rounds

Tuesday, October 18th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, "Alzheimer's Disease Update", presented by Ethan Eisdorfer, PsyD.

Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09

Psychiatry Grand Rounds

Thursday, October 20th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, "Substance Use Disorders in Pregnant & Postpartum Women", presented by Katherine M. Callaghan, MD.

Meeting ID: 818 349 233 Passcode: PsychGR1

https://umassmed.zoom.us/j/818349233?pwd=VVRDNUxZZmF4K3NqNXppTHJiVmNSUT09

FMCH Grand Rounds

Tuesday, October 25th, 12:00 - 1:00 pm, "Top Articles in Sports and Exercise Medicine Year in Review 2021", presented by Lee Mancini, MD.

Meeting ID: 191 986 273 Passcode: FMCH

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/191986273?pwd=NEtlZmNkdWlSUGwyeTJQU3dCeUs1QT09

• select a Community Health Champion from each health center, division, and from community docs to serve on our Community Health Steering Community
• assist our Community Health Champions to engage colleagues and residents to partner with their communities to continue and/or find meaningful projects and research that improves the health of our communities
• align with the new VISTA curriculum goals that include community health and call upon role models in our department to mentor and teach students about the importance of community health
• create a robust date base of the community engagement that our department already does and update this with new projects to act as tool for sharing ideas and coupling learners with faculty
• leverage the actions and principles of community health to address health equity, social justice, diversity and inclusion issues in our department, the school, our community and with our most vulnerable citizens
• engage with the clinical system as the only true department of community health to lead and partner with other specialties, and with community organizations and local government to meaningfully improve our community's health, wellness, and future outcome

We have a Community Health Group which meets monthly and will inform our work. If you are interested in joining, please email [email protected]

The Population and Community Health Clerkship will be held October 24-November 4. Our community-engaged faculty will illuminate the value of considering community as a unit of care and help our learners think about interventions that help populations achieve healthier lives. 

We invite you to check out the PCHC website. Email Dr. Heather-Lyn Haley at [email protected] if you're available to rate student presentations virtually on Friday, November 4th from 10am-noon and/or 1-3pm. It's a great way to learn about clerkships and connect with our students.   

You are invited to several events: 

Wednesday, October 26th

2:00pm Primary Care For You: Building a model to strengthen primary care delivery and outcomes. Join Wayne Altman MD FAAFP and Katherine Gergen-Barnett MD for a discussion on the lack of access to primary care and a proposal gaining support in the state house to revise primary care funding to provide access for all MA residents. They join as guests of the Caring for the Uninsured and Under-Resourced team, with thanks to Dr. Jim Ledwith. Register/join: https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUtdemvqDsiGtLFthT0k4gYcuIJJ3XE-2oD .

Thursday, October 27th 

2:30 Watch Party with 4:00 Panel Discussion of A Place to Breathe 

(https://underexposedfilms.com/a-place-to-breathe), a film on the work of the Metta Health Center in Lowell and on immigrant and refugee healthcare. At 4pm, Dr. Robert Marlin from the Metta Health Center will moderate a panel discussion with director/producer, Michelle Grace Steinberg who is a healthcare practitioner at Street Level Health Project and Rodrigue Kalambayi, a Community Health Worker and Congolese refugee featured in the film. Register/join: https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMrfuGgqD4rGNfVf3KfLIAeS_ptgdNm-xvd  

Wednesday, November 2nd 

9:00am Population and Community Health Management from the Clinical Perspective - Dr. Thomas Scornavacca, UMass Memorial Office for Clinical Integration. Register/join: https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqc-CsqTosG9e0mYr8Inkp1xXwWg1b_KTo 

10:00am Linking SDOH Screening to Effective Referrals Utilizing Community-Based Resources - Kathleen Franco-Anthony and Denise Murphy, UMass Memorial CommunityHELP Team. Register/join: https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYuceiprz8rH9c_WYzcwfwH8Oc-_fIq3VKh 

12:00pm Community Engagement for Health and Connection - Dr. Elizabeth Erban will describe her experiences with the Walk With a Doc program and lessons learned through engaged activity with her patients in the community setting. Register/join  https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrcO2urz8jGNDvPsQjbIW63shurv4-VEl9 

Thursday, November 3rd

12:00-2:00 pm MassHealth Basics Every Provider Should Know - This presentation will be developed by the students on the MassHealth team under the leadership of Dr. Viveka Prakash-Zawisza, medical director at MassHealth. Register/join: https://umassmed.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcof-6uqDkpH9PAZSBuc1kb9MGcENCgMIdZ 

Register for PCC's October Lunch and Learn Discussion

PCC's quarterly Lunch and Learn discussion series disseminates select articles on "The List," identified by PCC's Research Dissemination Workgroup. In these meetings, primary care researchers, advocates, decisionmakers and others are brought together to learn about key findings from seminal research and discuss the policy and practice implications, with the goal of better integrating the research into decision making.

Register at Meeting Registration - Zoom

The two articles that will be discussed include:

• Rosland AM, Wong E, Maciejewski M, et al. Patient-Centered Medical Home Implementation and Improved Chronic Disease Quality: A Longitudinal Observational Study. Health Serv Res. 2018;53(4):2503-2522. doi:10.1111/1475-6773.12805 
• Shakil A, Day PG, Chu J, Woods SB, Bridges K. PedHITSS: A screening tool to detect childhood abuse in clinical settings. Fam Med. 2018:50(10):763-769. doi: 10.22454/FamMed.2018.778329.

Teaching of Tomorrow (TOT) is a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed faculty development program that focuses on building and refining foundational skills for effective clinical teaching in inpatient and ambulatory settings. Preceptors from any specialty and discipline will enhance their clinical teaching skills through discourse and practice. Workshop dates are November 18-19, 2022 and March 10-11, 2023 and will be held at the Hotel Northampton. Please see the attached flyer and remember to register here: 

https://umassmed.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a8BYkGRTpaqMtBc

Drs. Judson Brewer and Lia Antico in conjunction with the Brown Mindfulness Center is conducting a research study to test if a short mindfulness-based training is effective at reducing burnout in physicians. Participants must be physicians. If you are a physician and you are interested in helping us to learn about burnout, please contact Brown affiliated contact person at [email protected]. Use of this message for recruiting participants has been approved by Brown's Human Research Protection Program. Protocol # 2022003296. 

Presentations & Publications

Thank you to Dr. Shahida Fareed and Dr. Kelsey Wood for their commitment to scholarship. They presented at the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA) Annual Conference on October 14th and 15th.

1. Oral presentation: “Lessons learned from compassion fatigue discussion with the clinical support staff within primary care”.
2. Poster presentation: “Weight management in primary care: Development of data driven clinical pathway”.
3. Panelist: Primary Care Behavioral Health Special Interest Group: served as a panelist to discuss the role of mentorship in professional growth.

Hugh Silk, MD, held the inaugural Poetry and Prose Reading event and also presented on "Maintaining the Joy in Our Work - Writing our Way to Wellness" (both with a colleague from USC) at the Collaborative Health Care Association annual meeting in Boise, Idaho, October 13-14.

Philip G. Day, PhD, recent publications:

1. Marc Tunzi, William Ventres, Philip Day, David Satin. Controversial Topics in Family Medicine and Our Duty to Engage. American Family Physician. 2022;106(1):12-13.
2. Nora Gimpel, Tiffany Kindratt, Alice Gao, Derek Mora, Maheen Patel, Sarah Sutton, Alexandria Yost, Sarah Ferguson, Beckie Hardie, Philip Day. Implementing Fitness and Nutrition Education in Urban, Underserved, Community-Based Montessori Schools: Challenges and Lessons Learned. Progress in Community Health Partnerships 2022;16.3: 339-348
3. David J. Satin, Marc Tunzi, Philip Day. We Don’t Offer What Can’t Be Chosen: Why Harmful Consequences Should Not Be “Decisive” in Assessing Decision-Making, The American Journal of Bioethics 2022;22:10, 60-62.

Frankly Speaking Podcast

A weekly Podcast series covering newsworthy topics in primary care medicine.

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frankly-speaking-about-family-medicine/id1194659367.

Please join us for an overview: Lower respiratory tract infections are a common presentation in children, and many of those children receive antibiotic prescriptions. Join us for this episode to review evidence that supports avoiding such treatment unless pneumonia or other bacterial infections are suspected. Guest: Jillian Joseph, MSPAS, PA-C, presents: "Leave the Antibiotics on the Shelf for Kids with Lower Respiratory Tract Infections". - Frankly Speaking Ep 298.

COVID-19 UPDATES

COVID-19 UMass

• UMMHC's COVID 7-day average increased by 2.8% since last week. (15.1% to 17.9%)
• UMMMC's COVID 7-day average increased by 2.7% since last week. (14.6% to 17.3%)
• The in-house 7-day average is 60 at UMMMC; 37% are primary COVID cases.
• Of those in-house, 73% are fully vaccinated. Of the 60, 12 are in the ICU with 8 of 12 fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 MA

• There were 7,685 new cases of COVID reported in the last 7 days.
• The 7-day average of percent positivity is 8.60%.
• On October 11, there were 293 patients primarily hospitalized for COVID. There are 856 total patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
• There are 20,407 confirmed COVID deaths in total.

Patient Experience: Why Improve?

• Patient experience is associated with patient satisfaction, better health outcomes, and enhanced patient safety.
• A positive patient experience helps us to build confidence with our patients and improve outcomes.
• Higher patient experience is associated with lower malpractice scores.
• Higher experience is associated with higher patient retention.
• Patients are 5 times more likely to choose a practice where they have a positive experience.
• Systems with higher patient experience have 5 times more financial success.
• Improving patient satisfaction decreases provider turnover.

Wellness Resources

The Caring for the Caregiver Program provides resources such as the Caregiver Support Line (508-334-HELP) and The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which offers a variety of services and supports (including virtual peer support and wellness tips. EAP can be accessed at 866-263-3525, or www.LiveandWorkWell.com, [company code UmassMemorial]. More information is available on the Caring for the Caregiver page.